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Dr. Alexandra Rempel
University of Oregon

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Research Keywords & Expertise

0 Ecosystem Services
0 Control systems
0 Passive Cooling
0 climate-responsive design
0 solar heating

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Journal article
Published: 14 October 2020 in Land
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Street trees, native plantings, bioswales, and other forms of green infrastructure alleviate urban air and water pollution, diminish flooding vulnerability, support pollinators, and provide other benefits critical to human well-being. Urban planners increasingly value such urban ecosystem services (ES), and effective methods for deciding among alternative planting regimes using urban ES criteria are under active development. In this effort, integrating stakeholder values and concerns with quantitative urban ES assessments is a central challenge; although it is widely recommended, specific approaches have yet to be explored. Here, we develop, apply, and evaluate such a method in the Friendly Area Neighborhood of Eugene, Oregon by investigating the potential for increased urban ES through the conversion of public lawn to alternative planting regimes that align with expressed stakeholder priorities. We first estimated current urban ES from green space mapping and published supply rates, finding lawn cover and associated ES to be dominant. Resident and expert priorities were then revealed through surveys and Delphi analyses; top priorities included air quality, stormwater quality, native plantings, and pollinator habitat, while concerns focused on cost and safety. Unexpectedly, most residents expressed a willingness to support urban ES improvements financially. This evidence then informed the development of planting regime alternatives among which we compared achievable future urban ES delivery, revealing clear differences among those that maximized stakeholder priorities, those that maximized quantitative urban ES delivery, and their integration. The resulting contribution is a straightforward method for identifying planting regimes with a high likelihood of success in delivering desired urban ES in specific local contexts.

ACS Style

Evan Elderbrock; Chris Enright; Kathryn A. Lynch; Alexandra R. Rempel. A Guide to Public Green Space Planning for Urban Ecosystem Services. Land 2020, 9, 391 .

AMA Style

Evan Elderbrock, Chris Enright, Kathryn A. Lynch, Alexandra R. Rempel. A Guide to Public Green Space Planning for Urban Ecosystem Services. Land. 2020; 9 (10):391.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Evan Elderbrock; Chris Enright; Kathryn A. Lynch; Alexandra R. Rempel. 2020. "A Guide to Public Green Space Planning for Urban Ecosystem Services." Land 9, no. 10: 391.

Conference paper
Published: 06 November 2019 in Conference Proceedings
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ACS Style

Alexandra R. Rempel; Megan Banks. Service-Learning Projects in Passive Solar Heating through the Sustainable City Year Program. Conference Proceedings 2019, 1 .

AMA Style

Alexandra R. Rempel, Megan Banks. Service-Learning Projects in Passive Solar Heating through the Sustainable City Year Program. Conference Proceedings. 2019; ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Alexandra R. Rempel; Megan Banks. 2019. "Service-Learning Projects in Passive Solar Heating through the Sustainable City Year Program." Conference Proceedings , no. : 1.

Journal article
Published: 26 July 2019 in Geosciences
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Earth-based building materials are increasingly valued in green design for their low embodied energy, humidity-buffering ability, and thermal stability. These materials perform well in warm dry climates, but greater understanding of long-term durability is needed for successful adoption in colder and/or wetter climates. The presence of stabilizers dramatically improves resistance to surface erosion from wind and rain, compared to unstabilized adobe and cob counterparts, and the influences of soil composition, fiber type, and diverse binders, on rain and wind surface erosion have been investigated in detail. Frost and freeze-thaw resistance, however, have been less well-studied, despite strong interest in stabilized earth materials in northern North America, Europe, and Asia. In particular, recent studies have relied on a widespread misunderstanding of the mechanism by which frost damage occurs in porous materials that will impede efforts to create valid models for material design and improvement. In addition, the influence of radiative thermal stresses on wall surfaces has been overlooked in favor of focus on ambient air temperatures. Here, we apply contemporary understanding of cracking by segregated ice growth to develop a macroscopic damage index that enables comparison between performance of different materials subject to different weather patterns. An examination of predicted damage patterns for two stabilized earth building materials and two conventional materials in twelve cities over two time periods reveals the dominant factors that govern frost vulnerability. We find that the frost resilience of earth building materials is comparable to that of the conventional materials we examined, and that assessments that neglect expected variations in water content by assuming full saturation are likely to yield misleading results. Over recent years, increased winter temperatures in several cities we examined predict reduced material vulnerability to frost damage, but we also find that accompanying increases in humidity levels have made some cities much more vulnerable.

ACS Style

Alan W. Rempel; Alexandra R. Rempel. Frost Resilience of Stabilized Earth Building Materials. Geosciences 2019, 9, 328 .

AMA Style

Alan W. Rempel, Alexandra R. Rempel. Frost Resilience of Stabilized Earth Building Materials. Geosciences. 2019; 9 (8):328.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Alan W. Rempel; Alexandra R. Rempel. 2019. "Frost Resilience of Stabilized Earth Building Materials." Geosciences 9, no. 8: 328.

Articles
Published: 25 June 2019 in Science and Technology for the Built Environment
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Passive heating and cooling systems have the potential to reduce space-heating and -cooling loads in buildings significantly, with little embodied energy investment and extremely low operational energy demand. Excellent performance requires movable insulation, operable shading, operable vents, and other adjustable elements, but effective methods for controlling their operation have not yet been established. In particular, the numerical optimization of interdependent passive heating and cooling parameters to maintain thermal comfort has not yet been demonstrated; development of simplified control strategies has not been explored; and resulting load reductions have not been estimated. Here, we investigate these problems in planning for the adaptive reuse of an historic brick office building in the Mediterranean climate of Berkeley, California. Using Hooke-Jeeves and particle-swarm optimizations of passive system parameters in a field-validated EnergyPlus model, constrained to develop monthly schedules responding only to time or temperature, we find that near-optimal configuration and control of passive solar collection eliminate over half of the baseline heating load; likewise, well-controlled shading and natural ventilation eliminate ∼80% of the cooling load. Together, these results reveal the magnitude of the passive space-conditioning resource in this energy-intensive region and demonstrate the power of simple, effective operational strategies to realize substantial energy savings.

ACS Style

Alexandra R. Rempel; Serena Lim. Numerical optimization of integrated passive heating and cooling systems yields simple protocols for building energy decarbonization. Science and Technology for the Built Environment 2019, 25, 1226 -1236.

AMA Style

Alexandra R. Rempel, Serena Lim. Numerical optimization of integrated passive heating and cooling systems yields simple protocols for building energy decarbonization. Science and Technology for the Built Environment. 2019; 25 (9):1226-1236.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Alexandra R. Rempel; Serena Lim. 2019. "Numerical optimization of integrated passive heating and cooling systems yields simple protocols for building energy decarbonization." Science and Technology for the Built Environment 25, no. 9: 1226-1236.

Proceedings article
Published: 01 January 2018 in Healthy, Intelligent and Resilient Buildings and Urban Environments
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ACS Style

Mae-Ling Lokko; Alexandra Rempel. Intrinsic Evaporative Cooling with Natural Ventilation and Shading for Adaptive Thermal Comfort in Tropical Buildings. Healthy, Intelligent and Resilient Buildings and Urban Environments 2018, 1 .

AMA Style

Mae-Ling Lokko, Alexandra Rempel. Intrinsic Evaporative Cooling with Natural Ventilation and Shading for Adaptive Thermal Comfort in Tropical Buildings. Healthy, Intelligent and Resilient Buildings and Urban Environments. 2018; ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Mae-Ling Lokko; Alexandra Rempel. 2018. "Intrinsic Evaporative Cooling with Natural Ventilation and Shading for Adaptive Thermal Comfort in Tropical Buildings." Healthy, Intelligent and Resilient Buildings and Urban Environments , no. : 1.

Journal article
Published: 31 August 2016 in Geosciences
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The phase change of water from liquid to vapor is one of the most energy-intensive physical processes in nature, giving it immense potential for cooling. Diverse evaporative cooling strategies have resulted worldwide, including roof ponds and sprinklers, courtyard fountains, wind catchers with qanats, irrigated green roofs, and fan-assisted evaporative coolers. These methods all require water in bulk liquid form. The evaporation of moisture that has been sorbed from the atmosphere by hygroscopic materials is equally energy-intensive, however, yet has not been examined for its cooling potential. In arid and semi-arid climates, hygroscopic earth buildings occur widely and are known to maintain comfortable indoor temperatures, but evaporation of moisture from their walls and roofs has been regarded as unimportant since water scarcity limits irrigation and rainfall; instead, their cool interiors are attributed to well-established mass effects in delaying the transmission of sensible gains. Here, we investigate the cooling accomplished by daily cycles of moisture sorption and evaporation which, requiring only ambient humidity, we designate as “intrinsic” evaporative cooling. Connecting recent soil science to heat and moisture transport studies in building materials, we use soils, adobe, cob, unfired earth bricks, rammed earth, and limestone to reveal the effects of numerous parameters (temperature and relative humidity, material orientation, thickness, moisture retention properties, vapor diffusion resistance, and liquid transport properties) on the magnitude of intrinsic evaporative cooling and the stabilization of indoor relative humidity. We further synthesize these effects into concrete design guidance. Together, these results show that earth buildings in diverse climates have significant potential to cool themselves evaporatively through sorption of moisture from humid night air and evaporation during the following day’s heat. This finding challenges the perception of limited evaporative cooling resources in arid climates and greatly expands the applicability of evaporative cooling in contemporary buildings to water-stressed regions.

ACS Style

Alexandra R. Rempel; Alan W. Rempel. Intrinsic Evaporative Cooling by Hygroscopic Earth Materials. Geosciences 2016, 6, 38 .

AMA Style

Alexandra R. Rempel, Alan W. Rempel. Intrinsic Evaporative Cooling by Hygroscopic Earth Materials. Geosciences. 2016; 6 (3):38.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Alexandra R. Rempel; Alan W. Rempel. 2016. "Intrinsic Evaporative Cooling by Hygroscopic Earth Materials." Geosciences 6, no. 3: 38.

Journal article
Published: 01 January 2016 in Renewable Energy
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ACS Style

Alexandra R. Rempel; Alan W. Rempel; Kenneth R. Gates; Barbara Shaw. Climate-responsive thermal mass design for Pacific Northwest sunspaces. Renewable Energy 2016, 85, 981 -993.

AMA Style

Alexandra R. Rempel, Alan W. Rempel, Kenneth R. Gates, Barbara Shaw. Climate-responsive thermal mass design for Pacific Northwest sunspaces. Renewable Energy. 2016; 85 ():981-993.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Alexandra R. Rempel; Alan W. Rempel; Kenneth R. Gates; Barbara Shaw. 2016. "Climate-responsive thermal mass design for Pacific Northwest sunspaces." Renewable Energy 85, no. : 981-993.

Journal article
Published: 01 February 2013 in Building and Environment
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ACS Style

Alexandra R. Rempel; Alan W. Rempel; Katharine V. Cashman; Ken N. Gates; Catherine J. Page; Barbara Shaw. Interpretation of passive solar field data with EnergyPlus models: Un-conventional wisdom from four sunspaces in Eugene, Oregon. Building and Environment 2013, 60, 158 -172.

AMA Style

Alexandra R. Rempel, Alan W. Rempel, Katharine V. Cashman, Ken N. Gates, Catherine J. Page, Barbara Shaw. Interpretation of passive solar field data with EnergyPlus models: Un-conventional wisdom from four sunspaces in Eugene, Oregon. Building and Environment. 2013; 60 ():158-172.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Alexandra R. Rempel; Alan W. Rempel; Katharine V. Cashman; Ken N. Gates; Catherine J. Page; Barbara Shaw. 2013. "Interpretation of passive solar field data with EnergyPlus models: Un-conventional wisdom from four sunspaces in Eugene, Oregon." Building and Environment 60, no. : 158-172.

Journal article
Published: 25 January 2013 in Geosciences
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Materials that store the energy of warm days, to return that heat during cool nights, have been fundamental to vernacular building since ancient times. Although building with thermally rechargeable materials became a niche pursuit with the advent of fossil fuel-based heating and cooling, energy and climate change concerns have sparked new enthusiasm for these substances of high heat capacity and moderate thermal conductivity: stone, adobe, rammed earth, brick, water, concrete, and more recently, phase-change materials. While broadly similar, these substances absorb and release heat in unique patterns characteristic of their mineralogies, densities, fluidities, emissivities, and latent heats of fusion. Current architectural practice, however, shows little awareness of these differences and the resulting potential to match materials to desired thermal performance. This investigation explores that potential, illustrating the correspondence between physical parameters and thermal storage-and-release patterns in direct-, indirect-, and isolated-gain passive solar configurations. Focusing on heating applications, results demonstrate the superiority of water walls for daytime warmth, the tunability of granite and concrete for evening warmth, and the exceptional ability of phase-change materials to sustain near-constant heat delivery throughout the night.

ACS Style

Alexandra R. Rempel; Alan W. Rempel. Rocks, Clays, Water, and Salts: Highly Durable, Infinitely Rechargeable, Eminently Controllable Thermal Batteries for Buildings. Geosciences 2013, 3, 63 -101.

AMA Style

Alexandra R. Rempel, Alan W. Rempel. Rocks, Clays, Water, and Salts: Highly Durable, Infinitely Rechargeable, Eminently Controllable Thermal Batteries for Buildings. Geosciences. 2013; 3 (1):63-101.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Alexandra R. Rempel; Alan W. Rempel. 2013. "Rocks, Clays, Water, and Salts: Highly Durable, Infinitely Rechargeable, Eminently Controllable Thermal Batteries for Buildings." Geosciences 3, no. 1: 63-101.